Clinic - Clemency and Pardon Project

Students work in teams to represent individuals in connection with clemency and pardon petitions to the Executive. Most cases will be filed with the Governor of New York State, although some made be filed with the US Pardon Office. This work involves preparing an extensive narrative application with supporting evidence to justify this Executive action. There likely will be an opportunity to visit at least once any client who is incarcerated. The work may require witness interviews, fact gathering, and affidavit drafting. Some applications may involve sentence reduction while others may request full pardons, especially when immigration consequences may be implicated. Students will be working with substantive criminal laws, sentencing laws, and clemency and pardon laws.

Enrollment Notes:

Seminar credits: 1.00 Students generally enroll for one semester only. The seminar will be scheduled in the evening and enrollment priority will be given to part-time students. The clinic will involve regular supervision meetings but the majority of the work can be performed independently around the schedules of students who work full-time during the day.

Clinic - Public Interest/Public Service Fellowship

The PipS Fellowship is an externship course in which students work full-time at a partner office or agency throughout their 3L year, in anticipation of full-time employment as a Fellow post-graduation for one year. Students might work at: NY Legal Assistance Group, the Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, Youth Represent, Public Health Solutions, the Community Service Society, Safe Horizons, the ASPCA, the NYC Law Department, the NY Transit Authority or the NY County District Attorney, among others. Students are selected for this Fellowship through an application process in their 2L year. Seminar Credits 2: The mandatory 2 credit seminar for the PipS Fellowship meets twice a week each semester.

Grading:

The seminar is letter grade only and the fieldwork is pass-Fail only.

Clinic - Safe Harbor

Students work in teams to represent individuals in a range of cases affecting their status and entitlements in the United States. Many cases involve applications for asylum, and some involve the immigration status of lawful permanent residents or victims of domestic violence. In most cases students appear either in Immigration Court or before other administrative hearing officers. Students conduct factual investigations concerning their client's history in their native land and their time in the United States. They also conduct in-depth research into the historical, cultural, and political backgrounds of the countries of origin of their clients. Students interview and counsel clients, prepare all of the applications or petitions required by the administrative process of the USCIS, present the claim before an asylum officer or immigration judge, administrative appeals, and, when necessary, seek judicial review in federal court. Seminar Credits: 2.00 Seminar: The clinic includes a 2-credit seminar in which students are taught specific substantive and procedural law, as well as the lawyering skills related to advocacy on behalf of immigrants, and discuss the difficult ethical issues that often arise in these cases.

Enrollment Notes:

Students generally enroll for one semester only, but may be permitted to enroll for a second semester depending on the needs of the clients and their cases.

Criminal Law

This course consists of an introduction to the criminal process and the role of the Constitution in reconciling the authority of government with the rights of the individual. The primary focus of the course is, however, on the substantive aspects of the criminal law. The role of the criminal law as the principal means of social control is explored, as well as the limitations on legislative power to define and punish criminal behavior. Cases and statutes are studied to develop a critical understanding of the fundamental concepts of criminal responsibility. The course includes the study of some specific crimes such as homicide and conspiracy, as well as the general principles of jurisdiction, accessorial liability, justification and the impact of mental disease, intoxication and mistake on criminal responsibility.

Grading and Method of Evaluation:

Letter grade only. Final exam.

Criminal Procedure: Adjudication

This course examines the manner in which a criminal proceeding is initiated and the conduct of a criminal case in court. Topics covered include right to counsel, arraignment and preliminary hearings, commitment or release on bail or recognizance, the grand jury, discovery and disclosure, plea bargaining, defendant's right to a speedy trial, jury selection, joinder and double jeopardy. Particular attention is given to the role and ethical obligations of prosecutors and defense counsel.

Grading and Method of Evaluation:

Letter grade with pass/fail option. Final exam. Enrollment Note: This course and Criminal Procedure: Investigations may be taken in any order. One is not a prerequisite for the other.

Immigration and Nationality Law

This course studies immigration, nationality and naturalization laws of the United States. Among the topics discussed are: the immigrant selection system, the issuance of nonimmigrant and immigrant visas, grounds of excludability of aliens and of waiver of excludability, grounds for deportation of aliens and for relief from deportation, change of status within the United States, administrative procedures, administrative appeals, judicial review, nationality by birth and by naturalization, revocation, naturalization, and expatriation.

Grading and Method of Evaluation:

Letter grade only. Final exam.

Law and Literature Seminar

This seminar uses literature, poetry, essays and other writings to consider the ways in which law and literature intersect, and to broaden students' perspective on the law. We will focus primarily on the central role of law in certain works of literature; on the critical importance to both law and literature of writing well as a means of communicating effectively; and on the fundamental relevance of human relationships in both literature and the law. The seminar is structured to encourage active student participation, critical thinking and writing, and thoughtful discussion.

Grading and Method of Evaluation:

Letter grade only. Students will write a series of short papers analyzing the link between literature and the law in several of the assigned readings. Grades will be based on the quality of the papers and class participation. There is no final exam.